Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Admiral Maintenance Service, L.P.

174 F.R.D. 643, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 652, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12086
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 13, 1997
DocketNo. 97 C 2034
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 174 F.R.D. 643 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Admiral Maintenance Service, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Admiral Maintenance Service, L.P., 174 F.R.D. 643, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 652, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12086 (N.D. Ill. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALESIA, District Judge.

Before the court is plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“the EEOC”) motion to strike portions of defendants’ statement of undisputed facts and an accompanying exhibit supporting defendants’ motion for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(f) and 56(e). For the following reasons, the court grants in part and denies in part EEOC’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

In March 1997, the EEOC brought a cause of action against Admiral Maintenance Service, L.P., and affiliated companies (collectively “Admiral”) based on Admiral’s alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2000e-17, and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981a. In May 1997, Admiral filed a motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for summary judgment on,' the EEOC’s complaint. In its motion, Admiral claims that the EEOC should be barred from maintaining its cause of action against Admiral because of the EEOC’s delay in bringing the lawsuit and failure to engage in good faith conciliation of its charges against Admiral.

Rather than respond to the motion, the EEOC has filed a motion to strike portions of the statement of undisputed facts and an affidavit that Admiral submitted with its motion for summary judgment. The EEOC contends that substantial portions of the statement of undisputed facts and the affidavit of Richard A. Rogus concern the merits of the case and are irrelevant and immaterial to the issues of laches and conciliation, on which Admiral’s motion for summary judgment is based. The EEOC moves to strike these portions of the statement of undisputed facts and Rogus affidavit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f). The EEOC also contends that portions of the Rogus affidavit are not based on Rogus’ personal knowledge, and therefore should be stricken pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Motion to strike portions of statement of undisputed facts and Rogus affidavit pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f) provides:

Upon motion made by a party before responding to a pleading or, if no responsive pleading is permitted by these rules, upon motion made by a party within 20 days after the service of the pleading upon the party or upon the court’s own initiative at any time, the court may order stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous material.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f).

The EEOC contends that paragraphs 1 through 31, 35 through 41, 47 through 63, and 75 through 78 of Admiral’s statement of undisputed facts, and the parts of the Rogus affidavit upon which those paragraphs are based, reflect matters that have no bearing on the issues of laches and conciliation, which are the only issues now before the court. Thus, the EEOC argues, these portions of the statement and affidavit are irrelevant and immaterial to the motion for summary judgment, and must be stricken as such pursuant to Rule 12(f). Admiral counters that its motion for summary judgment and accompanying statement of undisputed facts and Rogus affidavit are not pleadings, and therefore that Rule 12(f) cannot be used to strike any portion of them.

Rule 12(f) expressly authorizes the court to strike “from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous material.” [646]*646Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) (emphasis added). Thus, the pivotal question is whether a statement of facts and an affidavit in support of a motion for summary judgment constitute pleadings. The court agrees with the overwhelming weight of authority within and outside of this jurisdiction that the answer is no.

In Meredith v. Allsteel, Inc., 814 F.Supp. 657, 660 (N.D.Ill.1992), ajfd in part and rev’d in part on other grounds, 11 F.3d 1354 (1993), the district court denied a defendant’s motion to strike a plaintiff’s statement of undisputed facts and response to the defendant’s statement of undisputed facts pursuant to Rule 12(f). The court reasoned that Rule 12(f) permits a party to move to strike matters at the pleading stage, not at the summary judgment stage. Id. Thus, the court implicitly found that a motion for summary judgment is not a pleading.

The same court also denied a plaintiffs motion to strike a defendant’s motion to strike and supporting memorandum. Hrubec v. National R.R. Passenger Corp., 829 F.Supp. 1502, 1506 (N.D.Ill.1993). In Hrubec, the court explicitly found that neither the motion to strike nor the memorandum in support of it constituted a pleading, and therefore that neither was a candidate for Rule 12(f). Id.

Other jurisdictions have reached similar results. See, e.g., Knight v. United States, 845 F.Supp. 1372, 1374 (D.Ariz.1993), aff'd, 77 F.3d 489 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. ——, 117 S.Ct. 238, 136 L.Ed.2d 168 (1996) (motions to strike apply only to pleadings and not to motions); Jones v. City of Topeka, 764 F.Supp. 1423, 1425 (D.Kan.1991) (motions to strike are directed at “pleadings;” therefore, such a motion could not be used to strike plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment); International Longshoremen’s Ass’n, Steamship Clerks Local 1624, AFL-CIO v. Virginia Int’l Terminals, Inc., 904 F.Supp. 500, 504 (E.D.Va.1995) (summary judgment briefs and affidavits are not pleadings; therefore, a motion to strike is not a proper method for challenging such briefs and affidavits).1

In addition, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and district courts within this circuit have held that motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment are not pleadings within the context of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure other than Rule 12(f). For example, both the Seventh Circuit and this district have held unequivocally that neither a motion to dismiss nor a motion for summary judgment is a responsive pleading within the meaning of Rule 15.2 See, e.g., Ross v. Franzen, 777 F.2d 1216, 1222 (7th Cir.1985) (citations omitted); Hagee v. City of Evanston, 95 F.R.D.

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174 F.R.D. 643, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 652, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-admiral-maintenance-service-ilnd-1997.